


To Touch

by 852_Prospect_Archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Drama/Romance, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 06:31:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/794926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/852_Prospect_Archivist/pseuds/852_Prospect_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a fight, Jim sees a new side of Blair, and they come to an understanding. (pre-slash)</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Touch

## To Touch

by Brandy

Written in response to Mirna's drabble opening:  
 _  
_

"You're *not* coming along on this case," Jim said, his tone final. "I'll stop you, if I have to use force to do it."

"What're you gonna do, put me across your knee?" Blair was standing defiantly in front of him. 

"Don't tempt me," Jim snapped. 

"Yeah, right." It was the falling, contemptuous intonation that did it. In one swift movement Jim grabbed Blair by the waist, sat down heavily on the nearest chair, pulled him, struggling and cursing, across his knees, and raised one large, heavy hand. 

And yelped in pain. 

Blair had grabbed Jim by the balls, literally. 

"Either let me go or you will never get it up again," Blair said in the coldest, angriest, most determined tone Jim had ever heard him use. Jim let go and lowered his hand. 

Blair let him go and got up. He went into his room and began packing. **I am not a child. I am a man. He has no right to even think that he can discipline me. I have been taking care of myself since after my father died, for a lot longer than I've known him. Since I have known him I have gotten hurt more times than I ever did on the streets. I'm leaving for a while, and that is it. This is going to my first vacation from him in a year and it's about time.** 

Jim sat there in shock. Blair had never struck back at him before. He usually just did what Jim wanted him to do. He was dumbfounded. He watched Blair leave his room and walk toward the door. He had a duffel bag with him. A bag?? Jim got up to intercept him. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Jim grabbed his arm. "We need to talk...uh." 

When Blair felt Jim grab him, something snapped. He dropped his bag and twirled toward Jim. Using his forearm like a club, he knocked the wind from Jim. Then he tripped Jim up. 

"Who the hell do you think you are?! Don't you ever grab me like that again. I am tired of being man-handled, and I am tired of being told what I can and cannot do! I have been taking care of myself for a whole lot longer than I have known YOU. Where do you think I was when my mother was off partying? In a library? Playing with dolls? HELL NO!! I was out taking care of myself on the streets with all the other forgotten boys and girls." 

Jim struggled to sit up. His midsection was on fire. He just stared at Blair in shock. 

"You with your house rules and father knows best attitude is making me sick. You think you know everything. 'Oh, I'll just tell Blair to do this. He has to do that'," Blair said in a falsetto. "Well I have had just about as much of it as I can take. You don't want me to go. Fine. I am going to go stay with a friend for about two weeks. I don't want to see you, and I don't want to talk to you at all during that time. When I come back, I expect some changes in YOUR attitude." 

Jim stood up and just stared at Blair. When he had finished his tirade, Jim was boiling mad. //He was invaded my life. He has used me as his guinea pig and now he's going to dictate how things are going to be. No way.// 

"Wait up. YOU are the one who needs me. YOU need me to graduate, to substantiate YOUR claims. I have been YOUR...ergh." Every time Jim raised his voice, he poked Blair in the chest. After the fourth time, Blair got tired of it. He grabbed Jim's poking hand, twisted that arm behind him, kicked the back of his left knee. That forced him to one knee. At that height it was easy for Blair to put an arm around Jim's throat and yell in his ear. 

"I hate to rain on your parade, but I could have left three months ago. I didn't because you need me. But you hate that don't you? So you try to control me. The only problem is: I AM FUCKING TIRED OF BEING CONTROLLED!!! I not a child, JIm. I am a man, and a man can only take so much before he snaps! I am leaving now. I will be back in two weeks. Deal with it." 

He let Jim go. He picked up his bag. He left. 

Jim was stunned. He had never expected Blair to get angry with him. He had never expected him to leave. He just sat there on the floor and mentally scrolled through the last two years. 

He thought about all the times he had gotten physical with Blair. He thought about all the times he had yelled at him for not following the "house rules." He realized that this blow up was a long time in coming. He would never have allowed anyone to treat him like he had treated Blair. 

He also realized that he was sorry. He decided to go into work, and afterwards, he would try and catch up with Blair at the university.   
  


* * *

Blair jumped into his car and revved the engine. The Corvair whined and settled in to a rough purr. He decided he would call Michael after his lecture today to see if he could crash there tonight. He smiled. Maybe crashing was over-rated. Maybe his old friend Michael could become a temporary "best friend with benefits." God knows he hadn't gotten any in a while, maybe Michael was going through a similar dry patch.   
  


* * *

"You wanted to see me, Simon," Jim asked as he moved into the room. 

"Yeah, Have you heard about the two gay bashing incidents we've had this week?" Simon asked. 

"Yeah," Jim said. 

"The Commissioner wants a task force on it right away, and I want you to head it. Where's Sandburg?" Simon asked. 

"We had a fight this morning. I didn't want him to go with me on that bust this morning. He's decided to take a two week vacation," Jim answered uncomfortably. 

"Then you will have to do this without him. Here are the police reports, the people assigned to you, and the time of the first meeting. Jim, I don't have to tell you that this is going to become a high profile case if these guys aren't stopped. You do understand what that means?" Simon asked. 

"Solve it before the Mayor and the Commissioner start breathing down our necks," Jim said with a wry grin. "I understand." 

"Good," Simon said. Jim got up to leave. "And Jim, good luck." 

Jim nodded.  
  


* * *

Blair slammed the phone down. Michael's lover had moved in. Damn! He sat for a moment then called another friend. She should be in town. 

"Diana's Den of Iniquity, Diana speaking. What's your pleasure?" a feminine voice with a Southern accent said. 

"A warm bed and a hot bath," he answered. 

"Blair, you know you can stay anytime. How long will you be here?" she asked. 

"Two weeks, then it's back to my place," he said cynically. 

"Do you have bugs?" 

"No," he laughed, "I'll explain tonight." 

"O.K. Just come over anytime," Diana said. "You know the way. See ya. And from the sound of your voice, I wouldn't want to be ya." 

He laughed. "No, you wouldn't. See ya." 

He got down to grading papers. That was taken care of. Now, he could get some work done.  
  


* * *

Damn, there was no way he was going to catch up with Blair at his office, but he decided to go ahead and try. As he turned to enter the parking lot, he saw the Corvair leave. He decided to follow. 

Where was he going? They were on the outskirts of suburbia. Finally, he pulled into a driveway. A woman stepped out of the house and met him on the walk with a hug and a kiss. They walked inside arm in arm. 

He decided to get out and see what was up. He had never met her. He wondered if this was Blair's new main squeeze as he walked up to the door. He knocked on the door. 

The woman answered the door. She had left the chain on. 

"Hello, I'm a friend of Blair's; my name's Jim Ellison. Could I--," he stopped as he heard a whisper. 

"Don't let him in. I don't want to talk to him. I'll explain later." 

"Go away. Blair doesn't want to see you," she said. Then she slammed the door in his face. 

He was shocked. That woman shouldn't have been able to hear Blair. It had sounded as if Blair were upstairs in another room. She shouldn't have been able to hear him. 

He walked away and drove home in a daze.   
  


* * *

"Oh, Blair, when are you going to stop running away from your problems?" Diana asked. She didn't understand why Blair was acting this way. HE obviously had this JIm Ellison eating out of his hand. The guy had followed him out here. But that had seemed to incite Blair even more. 

"I can't talk to him the way I can talk to you. He just doesn't listen! All right, maybe it's just because he's straight or something, but he has the whole "I'm just a man, I can't understand emotions" thing going on," Blair said. He got up and started to pace. "He can't understand why I blew up at him." 

"Maybe he didn't this morning, but he's had time to think about it. You should give him a chance," Diana pleaded. "You obviously care for him and this is hurting you. I can feel it." 

"If I go back now, it will look like I'm backing down," he said as he sat back down. 

"Now who is trying to control who?" Diana asked. "I have known you for too long, Blair. All of our lives, the only thing we could control was our relationship with each other. Now, you want to take control of your relationship with Jim. Relationships are not about control. They are about compromise." 

"Diana you have no idea what kind of relationship I have with JIm. You...." 

"Oh really," she interrupted. "You forgetting something. My sixth sense is very "enhanced". Jim's a Sentinel. You're his guide. You can't leave him, and he can't leave you. You have to compromise." 

Blair gaped. "I'm going to bed." 

"Sweet dreams."   
  


* * *

He couldn't sleep. Something was missing. Jim sighed and rolled over. Blair's heartbeat was missing. His scent was missing. Blair was missing. He sighed and got up. 

That woman. Blair had mentioned that he had found others with one or two enhanced abilities. She must be one of them. He walked into the kitchen and looked at the slip of paper sitting there. 

VTW-265. Her license plate number. Was he really this desperate? He found himself listening for Blair's heartbeat again. Yes, apparently he was.   
  


* * *

Ring. Ring. Ring. "You have reached Diana's Den of Iniquity and Blair's Temporary Abode. If this is JIm, hang up--he doesn't want to speak to you. If this is anyone else, leave a message." 

Jim slammed the phone down. 

"Problems?" Simon asked. 

"Yes, there wasn't even a nibble last night at any of the clubs. Blair refuses to speak to me, and I didn't get any sleep last night," Jim gritted out. 

"Maybe I can help you detective," a familiar Southern accent said behind him. 

He whorled around. It was Diana. 

"Maybe you can," Jim said quietly. 

"This conversation should be held in private. Don't you think?" Diana asked quietly. 

"You can use my office," Simon offered. 

"You're Simon, yes?" 

"Yes," Simon said, more than a little baffled. 

"Then this conversation includes you too, I think. Where's your office?" she asked. 

"Right this way," Simon said as he started for his office. 

They walked in and settled into the chairs that were there. 

"I'm just going to cut to the chase. There are things about Blair you have to know. First, his mother and mine were friends. They often traveled together. Second, Blair and I have never had a steady home life, if you could call it that. Once we tried to count up all the moves and boyfriends our mothers made and stayed with, but we were unable to. After a while it all just blurs together. Except for a few memorable ones." 

"We were both ten the first time a man tried to molest me. His first time was seven, and he was to young to hide. As we got older, the guys our mothers dated got more abusive, both physically and sexually. We started hanging out on the streets so we would never be alone with them. Plus with all the partying our mothers did, they never really took the time to get us babysitters," by now both Simon and Jim were gaping at her. 

"The streets were pretty bad even back then. As outsiders, we had to become accepted pretty quickly or get our asses kicked. That meant giving up what little control we still had over who were our friends and who we were fighting. It meant defering to the alpha male. 

"Since we moved around a lot, we didn't have to put up with any one bully for any real length of time. The few times we stayed anywhere longer than three monthes, Blair ended up fighting the "top dog". He almost always won. That's all I had to say," Diana finished. She stared at their open mouthes and shocked expressions. "Please don't tell Blair I told you. He thinks that you will think less of him for some reason. I have to go. I'm sure I will see you again," she said as she got up. 

"Wait. Why won't he talk to me?" Jim asked. 

"Simple. He knows that right now he's in control. He'll come around soon though." 

"Why did I have to be here?" Simon asked. 

"Because you treat him like a child. He can take care of himself." 

She went to the door. 

"Oh, another thing, those gay bashers are going to hit the Underground tonight." 

"How do you know that?" Simon asked. 

She smiled. "Why there are sixth senses, aren't there? I have three enhanced senses: smell, hearing, and the sixth one. See ya," Diana waved and left. 

"Sixth sense?" Simon said softly. 

"Blair never mentioned anything like that. I wonder why," Jim sighed. "I know why. I never would have believed him. I don't know if I believe her. What do you think?" Jim looked to Simon. 

"It makes a kind of sense. This morning's press release said that we had formed a task force to deal with this. They probably figure that we will be watching the gay bars.. The Underground is something like a 60/40 mix, right?" Simon asked. 

"From what I've heard and the information we have, yes. I think I will put a couple of cars there and at the Purgatory. I just might go myself," Jim sighed. "I don't think I'll sleep tonight anyway."   
  


* * *

Blair threw down his glasses on his desk and sat back in his chair. Diana's words kept circling through his mind. 'He can't leave you, and you can't leave him.' 

She was right. She couldn't help but be right. But that didn't stop him from feeling trapped. He felt confined. He hated that. The phone rang. 

"Hello." 

"Is it true that you had a fight with your roommate?" a masculine, twangy voice asked. 

"Josh! How are you? Where are you?" 

"Didn't answer my question, Blair? Well?" Josh asked again with a laugh. 

"Yes, it is. Now, are you in town?" Blair asked exasperatedly. 

"Yes, in fact, I just found out that you are staying in my room. Guess you know what that means?" Josh asked in a low silky voice. 

"Oh, and what is that?" Blair answered sassily. 

"We will have to share. Beds I mean, unless of course you would like to share something else," Josh answered nonchalantly. 

"Oh, let me think about that," Blair answered with a smile in his voice. "Are we going out tonight?" 

"Of course." 

"Good. Listen I have some stuff I have to finish up. I'll see you at Diana's. O.K?" Blair asked. 

"Can do. See ya later, alligator." Click. 

Finally, a reason to finish grading these papers, Blair thought to himself as he got down to work.   
  


* * *

"I don't know how you talked me into this," Simon said as he stared at Jim disgustedly. 

"Simple. I made you feel sorry for me," Jim answered with a smile. "Well, it's ten o'clock and still no nibbles." 

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired of this old coffee, and my butt's numb," Simon griped. 

"Just think happy.... Is that Blair?" Jim said in suprise. 

"Yeah, and that looks like Diana. Who is the basketball player?" Simon asked. 

"I don't know. I've never seen him before.... She doesn't want to go in. Damn they must have talked her into it," Jim hit the steering wheel with his hand.   
  


* * *

"Come on. Let's go to Purgatory," Diana said as she dug her heels in. 

"We want to go here. Pleeease, Diianaaa," Blair whined. 

"It'll be fun," Josh cajoled. 

"Oh, all right," Diana huffed. She threw a look over her shoulder as she entered. Maybe they would be apprehended before the three of them left, she thought.   
  


* * *

"One o'clock. Nothing. I'm starting to think she sent us on a wild goose chase," Jim griped. 

"Well here they come out, finally," Simon said. 

"Yeah, I have a good mind to get out and...," Jim trailed off. The basketball player wrapped an arm around Blair's neck. Blair looked up and smiled. The tall guy leaned down and kissed him. On the mouth. With tongue. 

Jim was frozen with shock. But he quickly began to thaw. He was angry. He could recognize that emotion. But something else was the cause of it because he also felt an ache in his heart. It was...jealousy. He was jealous of the tall guy. He jerked. Where the hell did that come from? 

"Whoah. I had no idea. Did you?" He heard Simon ask faintly. 

"Uh...no, actually I didn't," Jim answered roughly.   
  


* * *

"Hey, break it up. This isn't a drive in." 

Blair and Josh separated and looked at Diana. 

"Who says?" Josh asked. 

"I say so," Diana said. "Besides, aren't I the adult around here?" 

At that they all started laughing. They never saw the beginning. They were completely blindsided. 

They were rushed from the side. Josh took the brunt of the attack because his back was facing the alley. Diana and Blair were knocked to the ground. 

Josh growled as he felt a white hot pain sear his upper back. He turned and grabbed the man that had stabbed him and snapped his neck. Just then as he began to choke on his own blood another man stabbed him in the abdomen. Josh fell to the ground, unconscious. 

Diana sprang back up. She saw the second stabbing and whipped out her butterfly knife. She attacked the man who had stabbed Josh. He slashed at her once, twice. On the third time, she blocked the knife with her arm and stabbed him in the chest. Just then she was pulled back and restrained. She heard her name being called. It was Simon. 

Blair grabbed a broken bottle from the gutter and rolled to his feet. One of the men swung at him with a bat. He ducked under the swing and raked his abdomen with the bottle. The man screamed and dropped to the ground. Blair felt a swift, hot pain in his shoulder. He jerked around to face the next man. He had a hunting knife. He slashed at Blair. Blair stabbed his hand with the bottle. The man dropped his knife and started to run. 

"Hold it, or I'll shoot. You're under arrest."   
  


* * *

"Oh, my god," Jim said as he bolted from the car. Two more officers were running from the opposite corner to join Jim and Simon. 

Jim watched as the tall guy snapped the neck of the guy who had stabbed him. He saw Diana attack the second man to stab the tall guy. He was running for Blair. There was a van partially blocking his view of the scene. What he saw as he came into view almost stopped him in his tracks. 

Blood was running freely from Blair's shoulder. There was a man at his feet, and he was swinging at the next man with a broken bottle. He managed to somehow stab the other guy's hand. When Blair's assailant turned and ran, he pulled his gun and called out. 

"Hold it, or I'll shoot. You're under arrest." 

"Let me go!" Diana twisted from Simon's grip and rushed toward Josh. Blair was less than a second behind her. 

"Punctured lung and a stab wound to the stomach," Diana said as she rolled him to his side. "Come on, Josh. STAY WITH ME!" she screamed. 

Blair tore off his ruined jacket and applied pressure to the stomach wound. Diana took off her jacket and ripped it in two. She folded one half into a square and slipped it inside Josh's jacket. 

"Blair...Blair!" He looked up. "Your arm." He extended his wounded shoulder for her to bandage. 

"Three ambulances are en route," Simon said to Jim. "It looks like at least two of them," he pointed to the dead men on the ground, "won't be needing one." 

Jim just nodded. He knelt beside Diana. "We need to sit him up before his lungs fill with blood," he told her as he grabbed Josh's shoulders. "On three. One...two...three." They managed to sit him upright without any of the makeshift bandages slipping. 

The wail of an ambulance was getting closer.   
  


* * *

Blair and Diana were sitting together in the waiting room. Their wounds had been stitched and bandaged. Now they were waiting. 

"This is the worse part. The fight wasn't so bad. The pain and the blood aren't so bad, but this is the worst," Diana said softly. 

"I know," Blair said quietly and put his arms around her. They began to rock each other. 

Jim and Simon paused in the door way. They exchanged a look. They were not happy with what they were about to say. 

"Blair, Diana," Simon said as they entered the room. 

"Is he alright?" Diana asked. 

"They're still working on him. The guys who attacked you however are out of the OR. The man you stabbed," he looked at Diana, "is in critical condition. He has a sixty/fourty chance of making it. Blair, the man you slashed across the stomach almost bled to death, but he pulled through. The other guy will never regain full use of his hand." 

Jim sat across from Blair and Diana. He sighed. 

"They claim that they were defending themselves. They say that you attacked first. I wouldn't worry about that. We saw what happened, and the officers across the street from us have it on tape. We may be able to get them to confess," Jim said. He leaned forward and put a hand on Blair's shoulder. "Josh seems to be a very strong man. I'm sure he'll make it." 

Diana looked up at him. He was struck for the first time at how purple her eyes seemed. 

"That's nice. 'Don't worry. He'll make it,'" she said as she got up. "He has less than a sixty/fourty chance of making it." 

Blair got up then. "We have to have faith." He put a hand on her shoulder. 

Diana felt something rip inside her. Something important was gone. It hit her what that was. She felt her knees give, and her tears started to flow. 

Blair barely managed to catch her. He sat heavily on the floor when her weight proved to much to bear. Pain sliced through him. Josh was gone. He began to cry with her. 

"Excuse me," an intern said from the door way. 

"We know," Blair said hollowly. 

"What do you mean?" Jim asked as he squatted beside them. 

Blair turned toward the intern. "Josh Parish is dead, isn't he?" 

"Yes." 

Blair turned back toward Diana and sobbed.   
  


* * *

"We have to get them back to Diana's," Simon said about an hour later. 

"NO! I can't go back there now," Diana said as she pulled herself from Blair's embrace and stood. "All his things are there. I can't face them now. We'll get a hotel," she said as she turned back toward Blair. He stood up and wiped his face. 

"You can stay with me. It's Blair's apartment, too," Jim said quietly. 

Blair and Diana exchanged a look. Blair turned toward Jim. 

"All right. But I'm still angry at you, and I don't want to explain anything to you right now. All right?" Jim nodded. "Thanks." 

"You don't have to thank me. It's your home too." 

Jim sat at the kitchen table. The toast he had fixed himself tasted like cardboard. He pushed it away and sighed. It was ten o'clock, and they were still asleep. In Blair's bed. His head dropped as the green-eyed monster reared its head for the second time in two days. 

"Oh, that looks good," a soft voice said from the other side of the table. 

Jim jerked. He looked up in amazement. He should have been able to hear her coming, or at least smell her scent. "So, you're up. Do you want anything?" 

"No, thank you. You shouldn't worry. I am very quiet, and I'm wearing one of Blair's shirts. That masks my scent. And Blair and I are like brother and sister. We don't fuck each other; it would be incest," she smiled. "Don't look so surprised. I didn't even read your mind. It's all on the surface of your thoughts. You really need to work on that." 

"Ah, sure.... Were Josh and Blair...," Jim paused. 

"Not for a long time," she answered. "You really shouldn't be jealous. Blair hasn't actually fucked a man in about three years, and he's never been fucked. He's funny that way. The whole control/trust issue again," she sighed. "Have you ever been with a man, Jim?" she asked. 

"Some experimenting in high school. Nothing beyond mutual masturbation," Jim said quietly. "I never realized I wanted him until last night. I saw him with Josh, and it all became so clear," Jim sighed. "He'll never feel that way for me." 

"Jim, I'm fixing to tell you something that I have never told another person except for Blair. My grandmother was a Guide. She and her Sentinel, another woman, were lovers during the time that they were together. In the end, it was what caused my mother to leave home. She couldn't accept it," she sighed. "My grandmother told me that a Guide and a Sentinel are meant to be together for the rest of their lives. They become sensitive to each other in a way that is paranormal. Think about that, Jim. You have to talk to him," she looked into his eyes. "Not about this, not now. But you two have to find some kind of compromise," she stood. "I'm going to get dressed." 

A compromise. He started mentally going over his "house rules." There was a lot of room there for compromise. He started making a mental list of concessions that might make Blair feel more at home. 

When Diana was finished dressing, she woke Blair. "Come on. You have to get up and eat." 

Blair followed Diana into the kitchen. She made some scrambled eggs. 

"Aren't you eating?" Blair asked as she set a plate of eggs in front of Jim and Blair. 

"No," she said as she turned away. 

Blair grabbed her wrist as she turned around. "Why?" 

"I won't eat until after the funeral. Besides, I need to go home and...and get Josh's stuff together. We have to start planning the funeral," she angrily wiped tears from her face. She jerked away from Blair. "I have to go." She ran to the door. 

Blair and Jim ate in silence. When Blair finished, he looked up to find Jim staring at him. 

"What?" 

"We need to talk about what happened day before yesterday. And what I said last night," Jim said quietly. 

"Talk," Blair said as he pushed back his chair and slouched down in it. 

"About last night, Blair, what I said was true. This is as much my home as your's. If you don't feel comfortable here, then that's both our problems. We should go over my "house rules"," JIm grimaced. "We should make *our* house rules." 

"All right," Blair said. He sat forward. "Let's make a deal," he smiled. 

Jim felt the relief that smile brought to him to the tips of his toes.   
  


* * *

When Simon pulled up, he was suprised to find Diana waiting for him. He was even more surprised when she pulled open the passenger side door. 

"I need to speak with..." 

"I know. You need to speak to Blair and Jim, but they are working out their differences. You have enough time to take me to my place. I need to go through Josh's stuff. I don't want to be alone," Diana sighed and looked up. She smiled through her tears. "Please." 

Simon smiled. "So one look into those purple eyes and I'm supposed to do what ever you want." 

"I did say please." 

Simon laughed and pulled away. "So how did you get those purple eyes. Is it a genetic thing?" 

"Kind of. I look like my grandmother for which so I am glad. Her hair was raven black until the day she died. In the Appalachian mountains, there are alot of stories. And one of them is about Twilight eyes. When a child is born with Twilight Eyes, it marks them. If they fade before the child's second birthday, that child will always be very intuitive. But if that child is like me and my grandmother before me, he will be able to see 'beyond the veil' and into others' minds," she smiled. "I don't go around raping people's minds. But few people know enough to keep their private thoughts private." 

"Really?" 

"Really." 

"You said Blair and JIm were talking. Are we going to be hearing wedding bells in the future for the two of them?" Simon asked with a smile. 

"What makes you ask that?" she raised an eyebrow. 

"I'm not as oblivious as everyone thinks." 

"Really?" 

"Really." 

They both laughed.   
  


* * *

"O.K. that's settled," Blair said as he started to stand. 

"Wait," JIm put his hand over Blair's. "There's one more thing that we have to get straight. When it comes to my senses, Blair, you're in charge. Here in the apartment, we have to compromise. But I need a promise from you Blair. If things on the job ever get too hairy, if you think that you can't handle yourself, you have to tell me, and you have to trust me to know when something might get too hairy for you to handle," Jim locked his gaze with Blair's. 

Blair entwined his fingers with Jim's. "I trust you, and I promise."   
  


* * *

  
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